A website especially devoted to the study of The Christian's Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635-1711)

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I recently was contacted by Buks van Ellewee, a software engineer, who wrote the following:

I have fully indexed the four pdf files of “The Christian’s Reasonable Service.” This makes them much more accessible and easy to use. When you open one of the indexed pdf’s in e.g. Adobe Reader, you will notice a little bookmark (ribbon like) symbol at the top of the left hand margin. Clicking the bookmark symbol now opens a table of contents listing the chapters in the open volume. Clicking on a chapter will take you straight to the start of the selected chapter. It just makes the text a little more accessible for quick referencing.

Needless to say, I am delighted that, with Buks’ permission, I can now make these indexed files available to you. You will find these files when you click on the button “à Brakel’s Magnum Opus.”

(Upon opening the file, you also need to open the Adobe Reader Toolbar. Once the toolbar appears on the left side of the document, you will see the bookmark symbol.)

A very heartfelt thank you, therefore, to Buks van Ellewee for having taken the time to do this for us, and for his willingness to make these files available to us!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Under the rubric “Testimonials” you will find endorsements by three well-known Reformed scholars: Dr. J. V. Fesko, Dr. Richard Muller, and Dr. Derek Thomas. I have also posted two excellent new scholarly articles in which the authors explore various themes in The Christian’s Reasonable Service. The first article is written by Jonathan Holdt, a Th. M. student at PRTS, and is entitled A Brakel’s Use of Doctrine in Calling Sinners to Repentance and Faith. In this article he effectively argues that à Brakel avails himself of every opportunity to exhort his readers to repentance and faith, thereby highlighting one of the unique features of The Christian’s Reasonable Service. The second article is written by Lydia Kim-van Daalen, a student of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is entitled à Brakel’s Spirituality of Virtues and its Implications for Soul Care. In this article she ably demonstrates that useful lessons for pastoral care can be extracted from à Brakel’s masterful treatment of Christian virtues. Both articles will enable you to taste the rich flavor of à Brakel’s experiential theology.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

I am pleased to be able to post a new article about à Brakel and his theology. This new article is a paper written by Paul Smalley, a Th. M. student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (PRTS) in Grand Rapids. The title of this excellent and well-written article is, “Satisfied with the Lord’s All-Sufficiency.” In this paper, Paul argues convincingly that spiritual joy is one of the dominant themes of à Brakel’s theology. Highly recommended!

Mark Du Preez also forwarded a link to me to a Dutch web-site that posts a digital copy of the entire Dutch version of The Christian’s Reasonable Service (De Redelijke Godsdienst). Click here to access this version.

Furthermore, I want to introduce you to the blog of Joseph P. Grigoletti from Quebec. Joseph recently acquired the four-volume set of The Christian’s Reasonable Service from Reformation Heritage Books, and has committed himself to blog on a regular basis about his readings in this work. Click here to visit his blog.

Finally, I want to draw your attention to Dr. Joel Beeke’s recommendation of the scholarly paper by Dr. Richard A. Muller, entitled The Covenant of Works and the Stability of Divine Law in Seventeenth Century Reformed Orthodoxy: A Study in the Theology of Herman Witsius and Wilhelmus à Brakel. Dr. Beeke writes, “Dr. Muller's article not only elucidates with clarity the views of two of the most famous Dutch Further Reformation divines, Herman Witsius and Wilhelmus a Brakel, on the covenant of works, but also shows how critical the covenant of works is for the whole field of covenant theology. That note needs to be sounded today when so many who claim the mantel of being Reformed, have relegated the covenant of works to the dustbin of outdated orthodox scholastic theology. Muller ably shows us how misconceived those theologians are who deny any form of pre-fall covenant.”

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

In my opinion, Wilhelmus à Brakel’s The Christian’s Reasonable Service is one of the most valuable set of books available in English today. I don’t say this because I had the privilege of organizing the task, raising the funds for its translation and printing, and serving as its final editor, but I believe this is true because of the rich doctrinal, experiential, practical, pastoral, and ethical content this classic conveys. When one reads Brakel, one is not surprised to learn that for centuries this set of books was as popular in the Netherlands as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was in English-speaking countries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most Dutch farmers who were of Reformed persuasion would typically read a few pages of “Father Brakel,” as he was fondly called, every evening to his family as an important part of their family worship. When he completed the entire work, he would start over!

This massive work is arranged in three parts. The first volume consists of a traditional Reformed systematic theology that is packed with clarity of thought, thoroughness of presentation, and helpfulness of application. The concluding applications at the end of each chapter, applying the particular doctrines discussed to the lives of believers and unbelievers, are the highlight of this section. I believe that à Brakel’s practical casuistry in these applications supersedes any other systematic theologian, both in his day and ever since. They represent Reformed, Puritan, experiential theology at its best.

The second part expounds Christian ethics and Christian living. This part covers the concluding section of volume 2, all of volume 3, and most of volume 4. It is the largest and most fascinating section of à Brakel’s work, packed with salient applications on a variety of topics pertinent to living as a Christian in this world. In addition to a masterful treatment of the ten commandments (chs. 45-55) and the Lord’s Prayer (chs. 68-74), this part addresses topics such as living by faith out of God’s promises (ch. 42); how to exercise love toward God and His Son (chs. 56-57); how to fear, obey, and hope in God (chs. 59-61); how to profess Christ and His truth (ch. 63); and how to exercise a host of spiritual graces, such as courage, contentment, self-denial, patience, uprightness, watchfulness, neighbor love, humility, meekness, peaceableness, diligence, compassion, and prudence (chs. 62, 64-67, 76, 82-88). Other topics treated most helpfully include fasting (ch. 75), solitude (ch. 77), spiritual meditation (ch. 78), singing (ch. 79), vows (ch. 80), spiritual experience (ch. 81), spiritual growth (ch. 89), backsliding (ch. 90), spiritual desertion (ch. 91), temptations (chs. 92-95), indwelling corruption (ch. 96), and spiritual darkness and deadness (chs. 97-98).

The third part (4:373-538) is devoted to a history of God’s redemptive, covenantal work from the beginning to the end of the world. It is reminiscent of Jonathan Edwards’s History of Redemption, though it is not as detailed as Edwards; à Brakel’s work confines itself more to Scripture, and has a greater covenantal emphasis. It concludes with a detailed study of the future conversion of the Jews from six passages of Scripture (4:511-38).

The Christian’s Reasonable Service represents, perhaps more than any other work, the Puritan heartbeat and balance of the Dutch Second Reformation. Here systematic theology and vital, experiential Christianity are scripturally and practically interwoven with a covenantal framework, the whole bearing the mark of a pastor-theologian deeply taught by the Spirit. Sweeping in coverage, nearly every subject treasured by Christians is treated in an unusually helpful way, always aiming for the promotion of godliness.

In my opinion, this pastoral set of books is an essential tool for every pastor and is extremely valuable for lay people as well. Happily, you can now read it freshly translated into contemporary English. Buy and read this great classic. You won’t be sorry. As publisher, we have already sold more than 10,000 sets and have never received a single complaint about it; rather, we have been inundated with encouraging comments about its merits.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

One of the objectives of this developing web-site is to make this the one place where you will be able to find anything (and someday everything!) that has been written about à Brakel and The Christian’s Reasonable Service.

I have made a small beginning by posting four articles. Under the rubric “Articles” you will find:

1. Wilhelmus à Brakel and the Importance of Hope, written by Derek Baars in 2006 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course I teach at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, entitled The Theology of Wilhelmus à Brakel.

3. Wilhelmus à Brakel—A Biographical Sketch, written by Rev. Cornelis Vogelaar (written in Dutch). Rev. Vogelaar is the pastor of the Gereformeerde Gemeente (Netherlands Reformed Congregation) of Zwolle, the Netherlands. During the years that I translated the CRS (1989-1995) he was my pastor, who, due to his expertise in seventeenth century Dutch, provided me with invaluable assistance in arriving at the correct translation of archaic vocabulary and/or idiomatic expressions.

Early next year, the Lord willing, some papers from Th. M. students at PRTS, who took the course The Theology of Wilhelmus à Brakel this past May, will be posted as well.

I am actively searching for additional written material (English or Dutch) about à Brakel and The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Should you have access to such material, I would be greatly indebted if you would forward this to me, so that I can post it as well. Please contact me at belshout@gmail.com. Thanks.